When Captain Picard Loses Patience With Your Cable Service, You Need To Run A Tighter Ship
from the can't-make-it-so dept
As Time Warner Cable continues to lose subscribers and its CEO and others remain in denial over it, it is perhaps time for those in charge to take deep look at themselves. The reason many people end up cutting the cord is that they are tired of the level of disservice they receive for the massive price they pay. You can do web searches for various cable and satellite companies and you can see story after horror story of people's experiences trying to get television or have their current subscription serviced. This is a serious problem and it never seems to get better.So it really shouldn't be a surprise to learn even celebrities can't get decent service out of TWC. Many of you probably heard the news about the tweet that Sir Patrick Stewart sent after trying to set up cable in his home.
All I wanted to do was set up a new account with @TWCable_NYC but 36hrs later I've lost the will to live.That is quite the statement. You can even see some of the sympathetic tweets of some of his followers over at Twitter. TWC, for its part, responded to the New York Post with this statement:
There’s no doubt we have a lot of fans at the company, of the actor and ‘Star Trek’ in general. But the truth is, any customer that reaches out to us . . . we’re going to offer them help the exact same way.That really isn't all that encouraging. If even Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the man who defeated the Borg, loses the will to live when faced with TWC's customer service, how does it think its everyday customers feel? Could this be part of the reason so many jump ship to either become cord cutters or subscribe to satellite, as was the case with Patrick Stewart?
It is time for TWC and other television services to really reflect on what they are actually doing to attract new customers. As the rising generation becomes a generation of cord-cutters and cord-nevers, they will have a tough time at keeping their place in people's homes if they do not change.
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Filed Under: cable, customer service, patrick stewart
Companies: time warner cable
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I was suddenly reminded of the scene in a Dirty Harry movie where Harry's racist remark is defended by noting he's an equal-opportunity racist.
I was also reminded of Brando ... "Get the butter" ... as that's essentially what TWC is telling it's customers.
Here in San Diego, half the city hasn't seen a Padres game all year because Fox Sports and Time Warner can't work a deal for the broadcasting. Not me, but I feel my neighbors' pain in the Twitter feeds.
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however picard's humility convinced q to save the enterprise
picard told data how to disable the first ship
picard knew the soft spot on the attacking cube and came up with the plan that data used to destroy the borg in engineering
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If memory serves, the first time he encountered the Borg Q had to save his ass. The next time, Picard himself was assimilated as Locutus. Using the knowledge gained from Picard/Locutus, the Borg wipe out most of the fleet. It's Picard's crew that end up saving the day. I can't remember what happens in First Contact with the Borg Queen, but I think maybe Data saved the day there. Not sure though. Anyway, I don't remember Picard defeating the Borg.
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If memory serves me well (and I am sure it does,) the reason this was effective was because Picard specifically removed the safety protocols on the holodeck, which allowed for the system to create "virtual bullets" which had a real intended effect. I suspect that since phasers were far more powerful (and had a built in non-lethal safety mechanism,) that bullets and guns were long phased out by then (the same way that our soldiers don't wear swords into battle,) and thus unavailable to Picard (though there are the matter replicators, but I believe those replicators had safety mechanisms to prevent the creation of explosives, which bullets contain.)
Damn plot holes....I cannot believe I am actually trying to rationalize a plot hole.
Oh, and this is the perfect 1000'th post...thanks.
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Or more likely Apple arrived late to space race with it's minimalist iEscapePod then patented the design and use of bullets and guns (in space!), effectively grounding any infringing ship on Mars and holding back galactic exploration by 100 years.
Later when lazers and photon torpedos were invented, Apples patents were easily invalidated by all the late 20th Century prior art - and humans could once again embark on their adventure to go where no patent office examiner had gone before.
Much, much later the FDAA tracks down the USS Enterprise and issues a cease and desist order on the use of replicators - because they're stealing jobs of poor, starving chefs by copying our food.
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End result, lots of dead Borg.
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I love being a geek :)
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Well, a two trick pony, since they weren't killed by actual bullets, but by force-fields that simulated the effect of bullets. So if Picard was able to find actual bullets (or defeat the safety mechanisms on the matter replicators to create them,) then he would be able to use actual bullets and not the holodeck.
I love being a geek :)
The fact that Michael Okuda wrote a technical manual for Star Trek, and I read through said manual and know how to operate said matter replicators and holodecks...well, that is just sad. But I agree, love being a geek.
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Amazon patented it.
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And Picard uses a Tommy Gun on the Borg in First Contact to kill a few of them.
Yeah, that's right! 1930s gangsta style!
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All part of the plan.
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How about we revise to "the man who survived the Borg." It's not like that's any less of an accomplishment. ;)
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Also, Picard and The Doctor are currently fighting Borg and Cybermen in the Assimilation comics, so he gets another shot at it.
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You could also argue that if the Borg never learned of the Federation's existence, due to Q sending the Enterprise, that the Borg and Federation may not have met or at least not as soon as they had. Though following that tangent, the Federation would have also been caught completely unprepared for their eventual arrival. So in an indirect way, Q may have saved the Federation... The Dominion vs the Borg would have been fun to see. Assimilating shape shifters into the Borg could have been interesting. I wonder what The Prophets would have had to say about Borg Bajorans.
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The Borg had already assimilated several Federation and Romulan outposts (In the episode The Neutral Zone) before Q tossed the Enterprise into Borgspace in Q-Who?
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however picard's humility convinced q to save the enterprise
picard told data how to disable the first ship
picard knew the soft spot on the attacking cube and came up with the plan that data used to destroy the borg in engineering
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Re: He ddin't
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Microsoft tweaking the packet size for XBox Live
TWC's backbone provider, XO Communications, losing UDP packets over 700 bytes
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why did I "cut the cord?"
Why did I need dozens of sports channels? I have zero interest in sports.
Why did I need half a dozen worthless news channels (stretching the definition of "news" to include "Fox")? I get more detailed news from around the world online.
Why did I need so many channels of ancient tv reruns? If I ever had any interest in such shows, I already saw them. If I still have an interest, I'll just download videos and keep them as mementos.
What do I want? Information. I want answers to my questions. I want valid education. I want items that interest me and/or that broaden my horizons.
Cable television is dreck, and spoonfed dreck at that. To hell with it.
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Re: why did I "cut the cord?"
Most of them available on DVD anyway.
"What do I want? Information."
By hook or by crook, you will!
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Be honest: when's the last time you turned on your subscription television service to use the digital music channels to "watch" talk radio? The station in question streams content over the web, and if Shatner's concerned about them losing carriage fees from TWC, he could also volunteer to do some ads for them or something.
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Whathehuh?
TWC- We're sorry you feel that way but it is same service we provide everyone
ME - THEN FREAKIN CHANGE IT!
The answer when someone tells you you suck is NOT to reply that you suck ALL THE TIME! Who the hell is the TWC PR dept and why are they still employed?
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TWC, like many other companies, has a social media team that will respond to questions on Twitter or Facebook.
I've gotten help with problems that phone-monkeys couldn't or wouldn't fix by going to Twitter - in some cases (like Planters, yay peanuts) they got back to me in less time than it took for me to find their twitter handle. TWC's twitter team responded to Stewart's tweet two minutes later, but he refused help.
Seriously, how hard is it to understand that the PR team wouldn't harass the guy just because he's famous? It might make Trekkers feel better to know their stars are treated like kings, but if the man says "no," you leave him the hell alone.
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INSTEAD of that throwaway comment of "eh? sucks for that british knight? Guess what, our bodily functions are sustained on your tears and frustrations and we don't care where it comes from!"
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TWC, like many other companies, has a social media team that will respond to questions on Twitter or Facebook."
The whole point is that customer service should WORK THE FIRST TIME (not cap-ing at you, just in general!! ) Any company that places too much reliance on their customer service department to take care of screw-ups that should never have happend, or to 'smooth over' policies and procedures that are in place that just don't work, is doomed.
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In fact ... the only company that never responded to a serious inquiry was Microsoft.
If you're having a problem with a company and the phone support team isn't helping, try their social media contact. You don't have to be famous, you just have to be polite and cooperative.
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Does that still work on humans? I couldn't care less about your teaser deal, what is the bottom line.
But yeah, Cabllite is a dinosaur. they have no clue who their customers are, & that is obvious throughout the TV world, cable, networks, everyone involved seems clueless. How else do you explain how every intelligent show gets cancelled, and replaced with something like Jersey shore, or how sports get so much air time.
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I SO want to play Mad Libs with that sentence.
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The Comcast Maneuver
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It's not really pathetic to complain about shit service. This story just gave form to the current complaint, but the why behind the complaint was around long before this.
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Translation: we're going to treat all of our customers alike... with contempt and ridicule.
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they were both having issues, on opposit coasts, i thought i caught this on boing boing yesterday, but can't find that one....they've got both tweets here though: http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2012/09/the-two-best-star-trek-captains-reunited-via-twitter-to-bit ch-about-their-cable-providers/
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He must have forgotten,...
There's no way any being alive could ignore the authority with which he delivers that line...
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TWC vs Picard
In other words... Resistance is futile.
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http://img0085.popscreencdn.com/146027716_picard-facepalm-gif-picard-facepalm-animated.jpg
http://funniestlol.com/container/uploads/2012/05/121-picard-facepalm-funny-demotivational.jpg
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Found it...
http://boingboing.net/2012/09/23/time-warner-cable-pisses-off-t.html
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...
Enterprise-level problem.
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C'mon
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I've been doing just fine with out a tv and have no desire to get one.
PPV isn't much good without one. Sorry, I don't have a cable to cut. Not going to have one either.
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I wish I'd gotten that kind of response from Microsoft when my XBox Live account got hacked, the hacker stole $25 worth of points, and charged >$100 to my credit card, then Microsoft lost my gamerscore and sent credits for the points to the wrong account. Instead I spent *three months* calling and eventually asking for their legal contact info so I could go to small claims court before I finally got to use my points.
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Was defeated by TWC
http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3r23pi/
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"Make it so"
That usually solves my problems. :)
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Easier said than done. I know, it's going to look bad defending cable companies, but let's really focus on the issue here.
To attract new customers means these cable companies need content. Guess who owns the content.
The rising number of "contract disputes" clearly shows what's going on: more coin is going out than what's coming in, and these companies are eating the loss in order to facilitate current customers and their bills, while trying to lure in new customers (in a limited market, mind you) to help offset the content's price tag.
In short: even if TWC gave the best customer service, it all becomes moot because, days later, they'll wind up in another "contract dispute".
Make no mistake here: content owners are watching these numbers like a hawk. If there's growth, it's the biggest coincidence how "contract disputes" seem to come out of no where and affect that growth.
Content owners, not TWC, are what's killing cable.
Let's be cognizant of the true enemy here, rather than trying to scapegoat a company between a rock and a hard place.
When this issue is cleared up, and TWC still acts like this, then we can talk.
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...
Oh, yeah. Nm.
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Cable Cutter
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Lifetime annuity
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I moved into my new House last month, I just got my new huge Antenna setup and I get like 15 Digital HD channels (More if I wanted Spanish and whatnot). I use Media Center on my Windows PC to record and so I have free Channel Program listings and DVR capabilities. I'm using a dual HD tuner that plugs into Ethernet. I get U-verse Internet for under $40 a month. Basically I'm saving a little over $1,500 a year doing this!!! I was already paying for Netflix and Amazon Prime. I've giving Hulu+ a try, but I have more content then I know what to do with. Using 'PlayOn' software I can stream other channels on the internet like Syfy, and whatnot.
I look around where I live now, not a Antenna in site and I'm thinking SUCKERS!!! I now have my Dad on board, he's been a long time DISH Subscriber. My brother wants to do the same, it's only his Wife stopping him right now. She like BRAVO. My Favorite show 'The Walking Dead' on AMC I can't get now, BUT I can get a Season Pass on Amazon and watch each new episode as it comes out. Way worth it, and commercial free!!! Again, SUCKERS!!!
This is also why there are CAPS, trying to stop the Cable cutting. Which is why I have the Antenna. No need to stream CBS,ABC,NBC,CW, PBS, etc in HD, I get a better picture with my Antenna. It's not as compressed!!! Think about it. I could go on and on about my setup and hardware, but it pays off in no time flat.
When you go from a $170 Cable bill to under $40,.. just think about that!!! My Dad was paying $40 just for home phone service that hardly gets used. He's just had that number for so long, I'm getting him switched over now where it'll be FREE for him and he gets to keep the same phone number he's had for 20+ years.
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AJ FTL
No, it was Picard - "Sleep"
AJ, you are, and will always be, a dumbass.
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